Perfect Solution to Financial Crisis

Cool, indentation! We're upgrading dramatically here at the A-blog. (Of course I have no idea how my editor Marisa Katz did that.)

Indents! Huzzah! Next up, font formatting.

If you can get us links and italics, Joel, we will be eternally grateful. Not that any of us is bitter, you understand.

What? You were talking about stars?

Antonio de Ugarte Postigo.

Great name. I think he deserves an indent!

JOel, I think it has something to to with electronic tabs. I cannot do this in any kind of format. I could never set mechanical tabs on a typewriter with any accuracy. The carriage would always be askew. I couldn't type anyway, so near the end of the period, I'd set a tab for the next person so that the furthest the carriage would move with every tab key stroke was about two or three spaces.

Martooni ... loved your last post. Do you have any brothers?

Magnetars forever!

If it got closer to earth than half-way to the moon, would it also wipe out the Wall Street scoundrells?

Twinkle twinkle magnetar
how I wonder what you are
up above the world so high
yet in my own galaxy nigh
twinkle twinkle magnetar
how I wonder what you are!

Your magnetism turns me on
realigns my electrons
I look to your flashing light
to lead me from this credit blight
twinkle twinkle magnetar
how I wonder who you are

In this world of darkness deep
in you will my faith I keep
for you can wipe my debts away
I'll strut on Wall Street one more day
twinkle twinkle magnetar
a better bailout bet by far

Ooo, what a great idea for a Halloween costume. I could dress my kids up as Magnetars and they could trick or treat around the neighborhood wiping out credit card debt and mortgage defaults all night!

mudge - symantec web site doesn't report any high level threats this month - only a hand full of low level threats so i'd say SPAM!!!

Speaking of war profiteering.
I wonder how many billions has Dick Chenney stashed away in offshore banks.

Good source for learning how to stash money away is Judy Komisar (google her).

Been workin', workin', workin' all day, so haven't been able to back-boodle.

Did anyone read Galbraith's Op-Ed in the WaPo today? I thought it was excellent. Not that it will be followed by those in charge (negative ion-wise). But it was a good intellectual read.

That being said, I've been up to my veritables in FCC stuff (needing a shower, alas). We've got to file something tomorrow, but at least we've got until COB to do it.

McCain is such an idiot. Maverick, my Aunt Fanny. He's more of an "....ick" in my book.

Apologies for the tiny, tiny rant. My opportunities will get much better over time, you know.

Toodles.

I protest. (again)
The Horn Antennae pictured beside Joel's article is not NASA's and the caption doesn't even mention it's most impotant discovery.
Mebbe Marisa can get over there and work her editorial magic.

"The Horn Antenna, at Bell Telephone Laboratories in Holmdel, New Jersey, is listed as a National Historic Landmark because of its association with the research work of two radio astronomers, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson.[1] In 1965 while using the Horn Antenna, Penzias and Wilson stumbled on the microwave background radiation that permeates the universe. Cosmologists quickly realized that Penzias and Wilson had made the most important discovery in modern astronomy since Edwin Hubble demonstrated in the 1920s that the universe was expanding."- wiki

Brag, where Cheney's going, you don't need money.

i'll be cheney has enough money to bail out wall street...

Thank you, Fifty!

Here's news that made MY day:

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/north_carolina/election_2008_north_carolina_presidential_election

WaPo is reporting that GOP House members aren't on board with the bailout. Figures.

Wow... when did Campbell Brown get so brash? I love her!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/25/campbell-brown-holds-paul_n_129296.html

Enjoyed your poem, DNA Girl.

McCain better show up for the debate. Even if this is just an attempt to stir things up yet again, it's getting old!!!

"Like a bad Disney movie..."

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1831461

As a child Einstein is said to have been fascinated by a magnetic compass, and I can understand why. For magnetism does seem like magic. What child of my generation didn't spend long car trips moving iron filings around to give "Wooly Willy" the perfect Fu Manchu moustache?

Perhaps less common is the attempt to create a "spherical magnet" by super-gluing several smaller magnets together so that the north poles point inwards and the south poles outwards. Oh, the despair and frustration when after a rainy afternoon spent struggling with this project one learns that nothing has been accomplished but to cancel out the entire magnetic field!

Even after one has learned enough about electromagnetism to recognize such folly, there still remains something fundamentally mysterious about magnetism.

Back before neodymium magnets became commonplace, I bought a bunch through the mail and spent many hours playing with the things. (I am easily entertained.) Drop such a magnet through a section of copper pipe and the magnet will fall with graceful slowness. Although to one schooled in such matters the mind immediately leaps to induction, eddy currents, and Lenz's law, there still remains a sense of primordial wonder.

So the idea of a huge rotating magnets in space just makes the universe that much more exciting. But it is just as well that they keep their distance. Joel is quite right about the risk to credit cards. Magnetic strips can be permanently damaged by strong magnets. Almost as damaged as, say, the cathode ray tube in a recently-purchased 1968 Zenith television.

Or so I've heard.

Joel -- did you mean this? "In case you somehow mist it,"

Now now, RDP, let's not be going and stripping any magnets, this here's a family Boodle...

I love NdFeB magnets too RD. My favourite toy store (Lee Valley tools) has a nice assortment for sale. http://www.leevalley.com/hardware/page.aspx?c=1&p=42348&cat=3,42363

My best magnetism story is about the old right hand rule, the one about the relation between magnetic field, electric field and current. I did my master of applied science on some aspect of copper electrorefining. Which involved visits in electrolysis hall. When you realized the copper conductors feeding the basins are bigger than normal railroad rails you know you should have left your wallet and electronic watch in your locker. Even at low voltage (30 volts or so across a pool or basin), these 20 000 amps currents can create havoc.

Okay, RD, out with the story. How did you ruin your parents' new television? I'll bet it was the first color TV in the house. Right?

Vulpecula, part of the Coathanger in the sky...?

Where do the Greek shipping magnets fit in?

Some people are shoveling sand in the machinery of progress.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/26/business/26bush.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

Joel--"Somehow mist the story?" I mist it.

Was it a kist and told story? Was it hist?

Yes, your spelling is being dist. Hope you weren't pist when you typed that.

It was just a black and white. We didn't go color until the early 1970s, which is when I realized that the Enterprise had a cool blue sheen to it.

Yes, I got into a huge amount of trouble for making Walter Cronkite look all freaky. Fortunately, the effect faded after a few hours.

But did I learn? No. In 1997 I set two huge ceramic magnets I had recently pulled out of an old Radar Range microwave oven dangerously close to the computer screen at work.

This effect took longer to correct. Although, thankfully, neither my father nor Walter Cronkite were involved.

Is the Lenz that formulated Lenz Law the same Lenz that invented Lenz lenses?

SD - that sounds so cool! In 2002 I built a "Wimshurst machine" that created two inch sparks. But my wife made me dismantle it after that whole unfortunate seizure incident.

Anybody ever see the movie "The Prestige"? It really drives the linkage between electromagnetics and magic home. Plus, Bowie made a way cool Tesla.

Hmm Boko, could be. But I just know Lenz's Law as meaning that an induced current will always oppose the motion that produced it. Otherwise we could hook up a motor to a generator and make Infinite Power.

Stupid Lenz's law.

It's also what makes a neodymium magnet fall so sluggishly through a copper tube. Try it! It's hours of fun for the whole family.

RD, why am I somehow reminded of the infamous noodle incident in Calvin and Hobbes after reading: "But my wife made me dismantle it after that whole unfortunate seizure incident."

You seem to be incident-prone, no?

Rather than giant magnets, it might be easier to just change your country's name. We evaded a bunch of creditors by using "c/o United Kingdom" for years, and then changing addresses. Changing your capital also works well. Niagara-on-the-Lake is still getting demand letters.

Another tip: when signing up for future debts use a slightly different name for each creditor eg United S. of America so that you know how you got on a mailing list.

Yes Wilbrod. My life has had many...incidents.

Ahh heck. Looks like the bailout agreement has fallen apart. Remind me not to look at the market tomorrow.

I am reminded of the button featured in "The Truman Show." You know, the one that says
"How Will It End."

re bailout coming apart.

Uggh. My "buy and hold" strategy is increasing looking a suicide pact.

Cool, a third Bush war. With Pakistan. Remind me, those guys have some nukes, don't they?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/26/world/asia/26military.html?hp

Quickly back boodled so if anyone posted this earlier - I am sorry.

Worlds oldest rock in Quebec?

http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5iSuFBNhLw5AXOXVIWx1o4cH3jUew

Got an email from a friend with a link to a Sarah Silverstein video. Should I post the link. It's sooo politically incorrect. Definitely NSFW. Also hilarious.

Oh what the heck.

http://thegreatschlep.com/site/default.html

dmd, faux-amphibolite is so tacky. Amphibolite is the only rock type of the Canadian Shield I haven't named a pet for.
Yes, the old CS has been around for a while. No dinosaurs in those old rocks though.

Amphi the Hamster? Yes.
The Fungi's oldest friend just had a litter dumped on him.

Correction on money laundry lady

It is: Lucy Komisar.
You can also find her on youtube.

Nice detail. Swiss private banks love it when numbered account client dies. They get to keep the money.

Ummmm. Working on a thriller idea.

'Government Seizes WaMu and Sells Some Assets'
How long for WaPo to suffer the same faith?

I was wondering, Brag. Didn't get far looking for Judy.

G'night all.

You need to watch the video Slyness linked at 9:58 if only to hear Silverman say "he's super-circum-sized."

Cassandra cracked me up when she asked if they needed McCain to type up the bail out plan.

Circum-super-sized, frosti! It's the "super-sized" that counts!

Slyness... thanks for posting that Sara Silverman link. Priceless.

OK.. now it's really g'night. G'night.

Thanks TBG, I should have caught that with an SCC but I was still laughing and sending the link to Ma Frostbitten and the frostsisters.

I've been aware of the theoretical existence of magnetars for awhile, cool to see data supporing that theory.

For some reason, I'm somewhat curious about that quote Joel uses. If a neutron star/magnetar had a mag field a billion billion times greater than Earth's (I dunno, RD, SciTim, what're we talking here 10 to 12, 10 to the 15th Gauss?) it'd wipe more than credit cards from half the distance from the Earth to the Moon (call it 125,0000 mi.?) I would think. Might wipe credit cards from a lot further away, like maybe one Astronomical Unit (or one AU, the distance from the Sun to the Earth).

Having said that, I'd be ready to backup all of the credit card data into a black hole before someone "accidentally" erases all of the credit cards.

I wrote this last spring, after guest Kits from Rachel and Caitlin...

http://www.10thcircle.com/10/?p=238

Besides, all you have to do is call the credit card company to get new ones. The data - and your credit card debt - is held in a secure data center somewhere.

Do whatever you like to your credit card. You'll still get your monthly bill from them.

Now, if you can get the magnetar close enough to wipe out the datacenter hard disk arrays and the backup media (presuming they're magnetic and not optical), then you'd have something.

A big financial mess, for one thing.
Oh, wait, we've already got that.

bc

This SF Chronicle blog has a link to the Palin/Couric "Russia is close to Alaska" interview video that is still good. I hadn't seen it before. My first thought was how clever, self parody will deflate anything SNL could cook up for another Tina Fey guest appearance.

Here it is:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/b/a/2008/09/25/nov05election-palin_explains.DTL

Saw my first magic show tonight. That straitjacket looks painful to get out of, dude. Really painful, and he was flailing all over the stage, looked like a seizure or something. Scary. But he seemed OK after, just sweaty.

Totally overwhelmed by work and this whole economic thing. Have speed-boodled, no time to follow links. I watched Letterman last night - I was taping it, but started watching and couldn't stop. He was so ticked off, and I think he called it for what it was. I hope Obama gets to have the debate to himself, frankly.

eidrib, you were lucky to be here when it was sunny. The weather has gone downhill fast.

Some days ago, ftb recommended Wizard of the Crow ... and the library just informed me today that they've set aside a copy. Just in time for the weekend.

It pains me to admit that I mist the Jane Austen reference in the previous Kit title until just now.

frostbitten, thanks for the link to the Sarah Palin / Katie Couric interview segment about Russia and foreign policy.

I couldn't make it through it. The transcript made me cringe enough.

That's just me, though. No reason for McCain to suspend the campaign. Just send Palin out on the stump alone!

fifty - you're cracking me up today.

OMG circum-super-sized! So funny! I decided to send that to my son and it's a first ever-grown-up-type-link-to-my-child sort of thing. It's a developmental milestone here on the Achenblog!

Did anybody else hear the "texting" piece on NPR today? kind of scary...

It's good to see that Palin is carrying on that proud Republican disdain for complete sentences.

yep, yello, she's got that down pat. I couldn't watch the interview, you know...the whole cringy thing. I have seen a few clips here and there...it's pretty clear why the McCain camp is keeping her under wraps.

Domino two.

New Zealand falls into recession in second quarter

By Chris Oliver, MarketWatch
Last update: 12:48 a.m. EDT Sept. 26, 2008Comments: 5

Financial crisis : If you are lynching people please don’t lynch Paulson. I kind of like him. Does the compassion Joel mentioned apply to these people who made such a mess of the economy? I would find it very difficult to have compassion for people who have lobbists lobbying for bonus from the bailout. To me it’s unconscionable.

I hope Congress pass the bailout. If the bailout fails, there’s going to be a lot of hardship for a lot of ordinary people.

If the bailout fails, I don’t know how it'd affect the financial situation in this part of the world. Nobody will know until it gets played out (Bn won’t be affect much since it is very sheltered.) I don’t really trust the info given out by some corporation and our gov’t. Manipulation of info is our government’s forte.

Oooh, magnetars. I know about those. I've even written a paper about one.

bc -

The field strengths in magentars are a few times 10^13 - 10^15 G. The minimum field strength is the "quantum electrodynamic field strength" of BQ = 4.4 X 10^13 G (BQ = me^2 c^3 / h e). The wiki page on magnetars has the credit card "fact" and its credited to a 2007 press release. I'd guess its something the NASA press office came up with, so it may have some error there.

Do we have another regular early-morning commentator in the form of astromom?

This isn't the first debate McCain has agreed to and later cancelled.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0002/28/ee.01.html

Get your orders together this weekend, let me know by Monday, and I'll bring requested Philadelphia items to the MBPH next weekend.

Buttercake? Pork Roll? Scrapple? Soft Pretzels will be a little stale by Friday night's meeting, but we can try. Anything else?

'Morning, Boodle. 'Morning, dbG; you're up early. Can I put in an order for one butter cake? I get weak in the knees just thinking about it. In fact, make it two: I'll make one available for the MBPHers to sample.

Here's a wonderful sentence from Gene Robinson's column this morning: "Thus far, an objective observer would have to say that Congress has behaved well in the days since Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson delivered a three-page ransom note that said, and I paraphrase, "Give me $700 billion, or I'd hate to see anything bad happen to that nice economy of yours."

Just love love love "three-page ransom note."

And E.J. Dionne has a nice one, too: "Fear is a terrible motivator for careful legislating, but it's a heck of a way to bring about a lot of bipartisanship. McCain jumped into this game in the fourth quarter. Many of the players on the field, caked in mud and exhausted but determined as they approach the goal line, wonder why this new would-be quarterback has suddenly appeared in their midst."

OK, gotta run. Astromom and dbG, good to have you aboard. You'll find your leather flying helmets and white silk scarves in the Dawn Patrol pilot's ready room. Watch your step getting out to your SPADs; the field is a little muddy this morning.

GO TWINS ! ! !

Sorry ... just a little excited here.

I caught this video on the plane yesterday and, sure enough, it's on the web too.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/brian_cox_on_cern_s_supercollider.html

Brian Cox, who looks like a refugee from a Beatles tribute band, explains the LHC and the search for the Higgs particle. He speaks slowly enough for my little engineer brain to understand.

And somebody beat me to my dream room:

http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/16-10/ff_walker?currentPage=all

I have gotta become buddies with this Jay Walker guy.

Morning, all, and happy Friday. Good to know that the economy didn't collapse overnight. We're still without gasoline in this part of the world; it sure is serious, WaPo has a story about it on the front Webpage. Big shipment due today. Elderdottir managed to find $20 worth yesterday, and Mr. T was late to work because he stopped and got some.

Glad some of you enjoyed the Sarah Silverman video. I hope it works!

The Sarah Silverman video was great. I'd threatem my parents with it since they are Floridians in the tank for McCain. Except if they did vote for Obama, I'd have to follow up with the threat and visit them.

Good morning Boodle. Not a nice morning for flying.

If anyone wants to have their copy of Kingmaker signed, bring it to the Mini or the Mega BPH.

God loves us so much more than we can imagine through Him that died for all, Jesus Christ.

Morning,friends. Mudge, I haven't read Robinson this morning, but with a line like "three page ransom note" you can best believe I will be reading it. That line certainly narrows it down.

I see the headlines state we don't have a done deal because the Repubs are fixing their own plan? I just did not have the heart to read anymore of the mess. Where are the people that voted for this crowd? Why are we at this point in our country? Who are these people, and why are they still running the country? And why is John McCain not debating? Is he already senile?

Yesterday was such a long day, I did not get home until last night some time. One kid showed up at the after-school program and he wanted to know where the rest of the kids were because he wanted to play. I suggested he go home and get his books so he could do his homework. That did not go over well.

It is cold, wet, and windy. And this cold is trying to move to another stage, and that is not good. I'm going to try and get to the laundry room, although I do not relish the idea or the deed. It is Friday for working folks, and all the rest, which means the weekend is in your face.

Have a good day, folks. I guess Obama will be alone, huh? I know I'm not the oldest person in the world, but I have never in my life seen anything like this in my country. It almost like John McCain is going to skip all the parts of democracy and just install himself in the White House on his own speed. We've already had that, and I don't think people will go for it a second time. But what do I know?

Slyness, Martooni, Scotty, Mudge, a good, good morning to you, and to all.*waving*

Time to swim.

More Palin-cabulary:

"So health care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions, and tax relief for Americans, and trade — we have got to see trade as opportunity, not as, uh, competitive, um, scary thing, but one in five jobs created in the trade sector today."

She is like an over-crammed SAT taker just spewing whatever she can remember. The handlers are going to lock her up for another month, guaranteed.

From Daily Dish:
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/09/the-couric-inte.html

TGIF!!! Even with the wet stuff around here! :-)

I feel quite confident a certain physicist NukeBro is very pleased with the results of a oblate spheroid contest on his college campus last night.

And PETA continues to spiral even further away from sanity...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26892950/wid/11915773?GT1=31037

*rather Spock-ish eyebrow arching maneuver*

And now, some backBoodling is in order.

*galoshes-and-brolly-encumbered Grover waves* :-)

Gonna be a gray day in more ways than one. I cannot imagine that the failure of Washington Mutual and the stalled bailout plan is going to play out well with investors. I further cannot believe that McCain's presence in the middle of such delicate proceedings accomplished anything good. I keep thinking about what happens when a senior person walks into a meeting halfway through. Suddenly the whole dynamic shifts. People stop thinking and start posing. It can be a disaster. Sometimes leadership means staying out of the way.

I am still hoping Obama shows up tonight for a debate/town meeting. Because sometimes leadership means moving forward.

Econolimpics Program for Today

1.) Sideways, erratic jumping (McCain).
2.) Golden parachuting (Paulson)
3.) Fragment hopping (Palin)
4.) Foot in mouth racing (McCain)
5.) Attempt at world record solo debating
(Obama)

I really enjoyed hearing from astromom! Because, you know, electromagnetism is pretty cool stuff.

Sitting on my desk is a little wooden sculpture I made some time ago. It consists of small wooden balls attached to strings and suspended in space by hidden magnets.

It is also a useful seismic detector. Whenever someone starts walking towards my cubical the wooden balls spin.

This can be useful.

I always knew RDP had balls.

Just didn't know they were wooden.

*going and sitting in the corner without being told*

:-)

RD

Leadership and everything else means moving forward. I cannot go back and redo anything I did yesterday in that same time frame nor can anyone else. We can try today to do better, but that is the best we can do. Going back isn't a luxury or burden that any can do. As dismal as our future may look, we cannot avoid it. And the reverse applies also. Sometimes these moments are needed for clarity. God is good in all things because justice(right) is one of His many attributes.

I don’t understand this science stuff but I enjoy reading postings from those that do. I’m conflicted about this whole bailout thing too. I don’t want Congress to be rushed into anything, but I wonder how much of this whole brohaha has now just become the usual partisan posturing. (Thanks McCain!) I’d rather think about our trip to D.C. next week. I’ll have questions coming over the weekend, I’m sure. Now to get thru’ Friday and into a busy weekend. Wet here as well and tomorrow looks to be drenching which is just great as I’ll be driving around all day in it. Happy Friday all.

You know Scottynuke, when I posted that I just knew, just knew, I was gonna get called on it.

At least I didn't talk about the oscillating magnetic flux.

And they spin! Such macho magnetism!

*going to join S'nuke in the corner*

BS - I'm conflicted too. But even Krugman, in the NYT, who was a critic earlier in the week, thinks that they had ended up with a reasonable solution. And Pearlstein in the Washington Post is pretty blunt about the stakes.

Again, I go back to what a destructive influence McCain probably had on negotiations.

It is theoretically impossible for a politician five weeks from an election to "suspend" a campaign. Every moment of existence is campaigning. It is obvious that to say you are not campaigning is campaigning. It's like, I dunno, like Scarlett Johansson saying that she is "suspending" her sex appeal and then showing up at a fraternity to help those poor unfocused young men study.

RD

Your story about the television reminded me of the brand new television I bought when my kids were small. My son decided he wanted to hook it up to the many gadgets in his room. The boy had wires running everywhere in that room. I did not go in there during a thunderstorm for fear of being struck by lightening with all the wires and gadgetry he had in there. I had only had the new television two days. I turned the TV on to watch the soaps, and there wasn't a picture. I investigated and there's a wire running from the television to my son's room. I know I'm in deep trouble. I go no further. I unhooked the wire and called the service folks.

The television was gone. I had to replace it. I told my son, don't even touch this new set or you and I are going down a path that you won't like. Keep the wires in your room. My son had a suitcase that was filled with his tools. One time he decided to run away from home, and the suitcase was the only thing he carried with him. I met him going down the road after my mother called me. He was upset because I took a knife away from him. He wanted to carry it to school. Now that I think about it, my son probably had a tough row to go around all the females in the family. He was the first grandson in a house of women. They spoiled him rotten, and I was just as bad.

I'm just going to go take my magical floating balls and play somewhere else.

*whispering and giggling w/DNA Girl* :-)

cassandra - thanks for that story. Sounds like a special kid.

Did RD get those balls from Ben Wah?

I'm just being naughty so I can join Scotty and DNAGirl.

We're gonna need a bigger corner... :-)

Stop it, children, stop it RIGHT NOW!!

Chuckie K blamed the subprime meltdown on Jimmy Carter. And he called for televised public hangings and auto-de-fes for Wall Street executives to pay down the $700 billion of damage they caused. Only I think he was being sarcastic. Which is a shame, because it's the best idea he had in a long time.

Here's something I was trying to post to the comments on Joel's "NASA at 50" article (with some further refinements -- they don't have a Preview function over there), but the comments function appears to be stalled:

We have enough food to feed everyone on Earth. Unfortunately, the food is not in the same locations as the people.

We have medications to drastically reduce the hazards of disease. But we are unwilling to provide those medications to everyone who needs them, but can't afford to pay for them.

We know how to produce all the alternative energy we need -- hydroelectric, solar, wind, geothermal -- and there is plenty of thinking on other methods, like tidal energy. However, it is so much easier to burn oil and fossil fuels (easier = less expensive) that we are not yet implementing alternative technologies on a wide scale.

The point is, for those who are arguing that space exploration is an unwise use of resources when we have problems here on the ground that need solving -- we already have effective technical solutions for most of the problems that are most frequently cited. The barriers to solving the problems are not technical, they are political and economic. A refusal to explore space will not help solve those problems, and could arguably make them worse. Space exploration is essentially a choice to be optimistic about our future, to choose a future of expanding potential, not shrinking. If we see a future of dog-eat-dog, there's no reason for me to give you any of my resources -- I'm gonna need them. If we see a future of opportunity, then it makes sense for me to share with you so we can all get there together.

And for those who argue that we have received zero benefit from space exploration so far: semiconductor microelectronics. Advanced photovoltaics (useful for those alternative energy sources). Weather satellites and effective weather forecasting. GPS. Long-distance communications using handheld wireless devices. Many, many others. Yes, these things COULD have been developed for purposes entirely independent of space flight. But they weren't.

Meanwhile, on our six o'clock . . .

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JI27Ak03.html

Good article by Michael Sheuer (former CIA)

Also lots of analysis from abroad on atimes.com front page.

Yves Rossy has successfully crossed the English Channel by jetpack. I can't find a decent link but I put off linking to that PETA "Mother's Milk Ice Cream" story a coupla days ago and I won't be scooped again.

Joel, two problems on the Photo Gallery captions for your article:

(1) The Viking image of Mars (that is Viking, right? Not one of the MERs?) specifically mentions fossilized signs of life in an ancient Mars-derived meteorite. That would be ALH-84001. That work is now accepted by only a tiny handful of scientists, with the vast majority thinking that there are sufficiently strong counter-arguments to every line of evidence for fossilized bacterial life that the case for life just does not hold water.

(2) The SOHO mission, that provided the image of the Sun, is not NASA's SOHO satellite. It is a joint NASA/ESA (European Space Agency) mission and deserves to be credited as such.

I don't have much problem with the caption on the Horn Antenna. Admittedly, the caption does not tell us WHY it is an historic site (microwave background, Big Bang, age of the universe, Nobel prize), but the specific work that is cited is directly linked to NASA.

One more problem: nowhere does the article mention Nancy Grace Roman, who I am proud to call a friend. Go Google her. She lives in DC -- I suggest you interview her while she is still with us.

Yes, Padouk, mine tremble whenever anybody approaches my cubby, too.

*move over, guys*

My wife e-mailed me this a few minutes ago. It must be floating around the iIntertubes (you'll just have to take my word for it I'm d@mn sure she didn't write it):

"Love Story

I will seek and find you.
I shall take you to bed and have my way with you.
I will make you ache, shake & sweat until you moan & groan.
I will make you beg for mercy, beg for me to stop.
I will exhaust you to the point that you will be relieved when I'm
finished with you.
And, when I am finished, you will be weak for days.
All my love,
The Flu

"Now get your mind out of the gutter and go get your flu shot!"

If Ben and Jerry decide to market ice cream made from human milk I suggest they name it after the movie "The Polar Express." Must back boodle.

Oh yeah. Good Morning!

Here's a link to Mr. Rossy's repeat of Blériot's feat.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article4831820.ece

Was Mr. Rossy carrying half a hundredweight of bricks, by any chance?

If not, he ain't got nuthin' on Ron Obvious.

:-)

SciTim, to your point (and Joel's, I guess), there's a finite amount of resources on this planet to support life.

We can try to load balance the human side of the equation, and seek more efficiencies, but the human population continues to grow moving the resources away from other areas (natural resources, animals, etc.) into people. As we run out of resources to support a given amount of people, pressures will build.

We can wait for uncontrolled ways for the equation to resolve via war, disease, global warming or some other disaster to do the job, or consider other options.

Space programs seem to be a good way to develop tools and technologies for better management of Earth resources (e.g. the use of weather sattlites to track and predict storms and protect people, to track solar activity against weather conditions here on Earth, etc.), as well as in the very long term, the possibilty (as Joel also points out) of bringing resources from space to bear on human problems, such as mining asterioids and comets for minerals and water, as well possibly allowing humans to migrate off of Earth, and for population growth to continue.

Not only could the stars be our destination and our manifest destiny, they could be lunch.

bc

There are fetishists out there that would pay good money for breast cream. Particularly if they got to watch the collection process. So I've heard.

One other thing - as a kid, I made a small magnetic levitation vehicle using magnets and Hot Wheels track components.

I *think* it was Hot Wheels track and not Johnny Lightning, anyway.

All of this discussion of neutron magnetars makes me wonder how close I could get to one before my fillings start to hurt.

bc

SciTim, add firefighters' personal protective equipment to your list of space technology used on earth. The best outer shell for turnout gear is a blend of kevlar and PBI. The latter was developed for spacesuits and was found to have good heat-shielding properties.

What a horrible time to be lactose intolerant.

For what it's worth, a biologist who's in the business of keeping humans alive and happy on the International Space Station (and who says engineers just don't understand keeping living things happy) is enthusiastic about the new Japanese segment of the Station. I'll have to visit the Akihabara electronics/gadget district and be appreciative of Japanese engineering when I visit Tokyo in November.

(This space biologist also helps run a small palm and cycad nursery. My yard has benefitted quite a lot from this enterprise).

SciTim, are there really still people around who argue we've received no benefits from space technology? Kinda thought those people died out (Darwined out) a dozen or two dozen years ago.

Wait. OK, there's the people who think the Flinstones was a documentary and man co-existed with dinosaurs, etc. Okay, never mind. Sorry I asked.

Ooh, Mudge, accessories! Thank you!

What's the Dolly Parton quote in *Steel Magnolias* about our ability to accessorize being the thing which distinguishes us from the animals?
:-) (Can't look it up from work)

Speaking of Tang (and we were), has anybody ever heard of or tried something called "instant Russian tea"? I only heard about it week or two ago. Here's one of the formula variants:

1/2 cup instant tea powder
2 cups orange-flavored drink mix (e.g. Tang)
3 ounces lemonade-flavor drink powder
3/4 cup white sugar [understand Splenda or whatever can be substituted]
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl, mix together powdered drink mixes, sugar, and spices. Place in jars.
Instructions to include with gift:
1. Place 2 to 3 rounded teaspoonfuls in a cup.
2. Add boiling water and serve.

-------------
Notwithstanding the lethal dose of sugar, is this stuff any good? It is supposed to taste like mulled cider, according to one version. To me it sounds like a hot Arnold Palmer with a cinnamon stick in it. Not that that's a bad thing.

g'morning boodle, and an alert. October 21st is "Lights on After School" night. It's designed to draw attention to all kinds of healthy after-school activities for school aged kids. If you don't have school-aged kids any more, or never did, think about surprising a local Boys and Girls Club, church based tutoring program, scout troop or other nonprofit serving young people with a modest donation.

Twins up by 1/2 a game over the White Sox. Joining KPage in the celebration. 3 games to go though so celebrating while holding breath.

Mudge

I love your flu exposition. I hope that is not what I'm trying to catch.

I hope someone will keep me updated on the McCain fiasco and the debate?

Are we having a class war here in America? Is this bailout thing about rich and poor? Any history majors out there?

Mudge, that recipe was around when I was a kid. It's not too bad, but it's a real Sixties thing. I prefer a good Earl Grey or English Breakfast myself. But then my palate has evolved beyond Tang as I've gotten older.

Actually, Cassandra, for once I don't think it is a class war or about rich versus poor. To me it looks like an intramural squabble among Republicans, pitting the old line "true" Republican Conservatives, who have finally acquired sets of Padoul-like magnetically suspended wooden balls, and have realized the NeoCons in the White House are NOT fiscal conservatives after all, and they've finally, finally, finally-- after eight years of deceit -- had enough.

And that's a good thing.

(The silver lining is, the Dems don't have to be the bad guys, for a change; they can just stand back and let Boehner et al. demolish Bush and the White House. With both Bush and McCain effectively out of the loop, the two sides can now sit down and work out a real bailout plan with safeguards built in.)

I actually think Wall Street will see that the Paulson Plan was crapola, and not panic over its deserved death. This "urgency" over the need to do something "right now" will also been seen as unreasonable. No, we can't dilly-dally; but neither do we have to do anything rash just to satisfy Bushian scaremongering. Those days now appear to be gone.

When even Bush's own party won't blindly support him anymore, you know he's a dead duck, and the world can resume spinning on its axis just a little bit better.

Magnetars notwithstanding. (Speaking of magnetars, are you astronomical types sure that flashing light isn't just some gigantic intergalactic VCR nobody has figured out how to program so it stops flashing "12:00, 12:00, 12:00" all the time? Just a thought.)

That tea doesn't sound too Russian to me Mudge, there ain't no vodka in it. A Russian drink without vodka is like a pair of pants without legs.
A couple of tablespoon of this stuff mixed with ice and vodka could pass as a spicy screwdriver. Bleah.

Add the US Swim Team swimsuits and those Foam mattresses to the list of benefits from space technology.

I've wondered with things like that, well the mattresses mostly, does NASA get a cut of the profit, or at least a hefty licensing fee?

My drive by boodling this morning was thanks to the astrokid who decided that she wanted to be up at 3am. I indulged her since she got vaccinations yesterday and has been sick for the past couple of days. Was able to get her back to bed at 5.

bc - according to the wiki page, a magnetar will kill you at 1000 km. So I'd say your fillings would bother you sometime before that. :)

Oh, according to a blurb reported by Rachel Maddow last night, somebody asked a Treasury spokesperson where that $700 billion figure had come from in the first place. The spokesperson is said to have replied, more or less, that $700B didn't come from any particular data point, they just needed a really big number, and so kind of arbitrarily picked 700B as a SWAG kind of thing.

Haven't seen anyone pick up on that yet.

Sadly, I fear a collapsing star nearby would be the ONLY viable way to fix this problem. And I can think of only one star close enough...

Is this what the Aztecs thought were going to kill us in 2012? It seems that this celestial body sees us more as a giant computer to be wiped clean than anything. Either that, or it's just a clump of forces and I'm just reifying it like a nutcase.

That tea might be good if real citrus and real tear were used.

I made a corned beef for the first time ever last night. I have cooked plenty of briskets but not this way. It was great. I dreamed of homemade corned beef hash all night. And I'm craving sauerkraut bad. And I just realized sauerkraut is hard for me to spell.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20010618/komisar
Komisar on money laundering and Bush admin
Great tip, Brag. Thanks.

Actually, my last post would be what you call "on-kit", wouldn't it be?
I apolojuice fully.

Great link from the Weingarten updates. The voice mail from John McCain to Sarah Palin...

http://www.236.com/blog/w/lee_camp/mccains_voice_mail_to_palin_le_8644.php

I didn't yell *first,* but I have been over to the new kit talking with myself.

New Kit!

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Mudge, I would certainly not argue that we have received no benefits from space exploration. But I might make an argument like, if it costs 10 cents per person per day to provide clean drinking water to the population of Africa, versus spending billions of dollars building a telescope on the dark side of the moon, which has a better cost/benefit ratio...

http://www.chrf.org/future-clean-water.html

Of course the decision never comes down to that kind of choice; the world is much more complicated than that. But that doesn't mean I have to believe that "All is for the best in the best of all possible worlds." Big expenditures on high tech stuff make me uncomfortable. If I were in charge of Everything, the space program would get in line for funding BEHIND social programs. We could actually live without GPS and the rest--people did it for a long time--but food, water and shelter are basic needs, and there are people who are dying for the lack of them.

Mudge, I made and drank russian iced tea by the gallon last winter. It is very good indeed in cold weather. As TBG mentioned, It tastes like Constant Comment, but sweeter and more of that orange-and-cloves taste, and of course it's thicker, like mulled cider.

I don't add sugar, though, Tang already has sugar in it, (you can buy sugar-free though). So make it and then add sweetener to taste.

Russian tea is a must in Minnesotan winters. They often sell it at hockey games next to the hot cocoa, and I prefer it to hot cocoa (which often is far too sweet).